Tuesday, April 6, 2010

When we bought our house some 6 years ago - it was definitely a fixer-upper. It had been a foreclosure sale and the "homeowner" was not excited about having to move out! She gave away plants from the yard. She poured candle wax down sinks. She had locked her dog in the family room area and he had torn holes in the walls, pee'd on the carpet and torn up the window sills throughout the house. She had a bird which must have flown freely in the upstairs bedroom for there was evidence of bird everywhere! These are just a FEW of the things we encountered as we took possession of the house. Needless to say, we spent some 6 weeks working on the house to get it in shape to live in, and then decided to take a break.

Well, that break turned into 6 years of break - how does that happen? We did some little things along the way, we repainted the whole outside of the house one year, refinished the deck in the back (which unfortunately needs to be redone now - ugh!), we started a landscaping project - never completely finished that project though - note to self, put that back on the to do list!

I guess part of our long dry spell in fixing up the house was that we had to do so much work to it when we bought it. We truly had patched and mended so many spots that the thought of putting holes back into the walls wasn't very appealing. I loved the paint color we chose for the inside of the house, it's a tan shade but in certain lighting it looks green and in other lighting it looks grey. I have found it refreshing to just have a 'clean look' but truly it's needed to be "decorated" for a while and I've just not wanted to even tackle it.

As I mentioned a few posts back, I did tackle the kitchen cabinets a few months ago - sanded, painted, and put new hardware on etc. When I bought that paint for the cabinets I also bought a Barn Red colored paint to add a few accent walls in my house - so I've recently painted those.When we purchased the house the windows had salmon pink colored window coverings with ruffles - they were putrid to say the least - we quickly tore those off the walls and put in hampton style blinds, but I have thought about adding curtains for a few years now. Recently I found some that I liked, but I now wonder if it's a little too much red with my red wall as well - but I like the warmth that the curtains offer to the room for sure, so they'll be staying for now. It just feels more "homey" if that's a word!?!When Jeff & I were married we received a clock as a wedding gift. It's lasted all these years and still works just fine but it's a little dated if you get my drift so I set out to find a cute wall clock that could fit in the same space the other had been. At first I wanted a large clock but then felt it would overpower the small space I had for it. The spaces that would fit a large clock I already had large pieces in - like my star and window panes. I finally found this cute London Kensington Train Station clock - which I thought was fun since we'd ridden the trains in London a lot! I hung it over the top of this picture of the Sacred Grove which I absolutely love.Many of you know that I have a thing for old windows - and that I've purchased a few which hang throughout my house. I also have a couple of old doors - one has been made into a headboard for my bed. The other has a cool handle & lock on it and I've just wanted to hang it on the wall somewhere as decoration. For YEARS it has leaned against a shelf in the garage - and if we've needed to get to something on that shelf we've pushed it to the side to try and get behind it. Doors are so dang heavy! It's sat there because it had a hole in it where the previous owners had their deadbolt. Now, I could have hung it up with the hole but I wanted to find a cool lock to put there or something that would fit the cool lock and handle on the door already.

Our anniversary is in November, Jeff and I took a trip out to Leavenworth this past November to celebrate (it was our first time out there since we've lived in Washington - I know how sad is that?!) - anyways, as "tradition" (which is a joke - poor Jeff knows that I love jewelery) he was going to buy me a necklace I'd seen while window shopping there but what I really wanted was this wrought iron wall art that was at the cute little french crepe cafe' we ate lunch at. Now to be honest, even though I loved the wrought iron I wasn't sure they would sell it as it was a piece of their decoration for the cafe' but I asked the manager anyways if we could purchase the piece that was hanging in the restaurant - the clerks were sure the owners would say no - but to my much happiness they said yes! Jeff thought I was nuts but said we could get it if I really wanted it - you should have seen the looks I got as I strolled down the walkway with my huge wall art piece & a grin on my face headed for the car!

Back to the door, so after Leavenworth Jeff & I set out for Snohomish in search of something that might work to filling the hole in the door. First we thought of getting a lock that would match but locks were nowhere to be found - at least nothing that would work - fit the hole or match the look of the door. I did however come home with a cool circular cover - that was for a doorknob - so it would make the hole smaller at least. It was actually a few days later that I found my big "score" - I'd been on a massive shopping trip - had hit WalMart, Costco and Albertsons and was just heading home when I spotted the old door outside of the antique shop there with a huge sign that said "free" on it! I quickly pulled over - rearranged my car and loaded in the old lead filled door so that I could nab the cool knob off of it! It was truly a find - cool old iron knob that looks amazing! The only thing I would change is to move the lock to the top portion and the knob down but for now - I'm just happy it's up and I can look at it! Maybe in another 6 years from now I'll get the knob moved to the correct placement.We also got a new light fixture for the dining room. Now if you are like me and love to watch the Amazing Race then you know what a "candle-a-bra" is right?! I just absolutely fell in love with this scrolled fixture and knew I had to bring it home so I could have my very own "candle-a-bra"! Isn't it fun?!

When Kara was a baby we bought an oak dining room table set which I've refinished several times over the years. That table is in super shape still but the chairs had seen better days! I set out to find a new table set - not an easy feet to accomplish - but was pleased when I found this cute black set. Best of all it was VERY affordable and will look great as it gets banged up over the years. Nothing beats a great farmhouse table if you ask me. Anyways, Jeff asked what I wanted to do with the old farmhouse table we'd had - "put it in storage?" Quickly I told him to "cut the legs down so it could be a coffee table". You should have seen his face! I just love how the living room / dining room have turn out - it makes me happy to sit in there.

Now I just need to put the pictures into my window pane that hangs above my couch, oh and then I might need to get new couches...oh the list goes on and on doesn't it?

Love it, Kim! Hey, if you have any vinyl needs for those beautiful walls, give me a hollar (sp?). I looooooove red and looooooove your clock. I've had my eye on one at a store here in town. Beautiful job!

I've got several - one of them has 3 panes in it - so I put a couple of matted pictures of my kids in each of the panes of glass - the large one that is over my couch I plan to put pictures of my family. I've got a large Queen Anne window upstairs that I plan to put a picture of the temple in and the small Queen Anne window I have downstairs has a picture of Christ in it. I love the old windows - they are so fun! Even better yet when they have the old hardware on them still!